The Fires of Spring
by LePetitLapin
Summary: When Saphira is struck by magic that turns her into a human, so begins the journey of finding a way to turn her back into the dragon she was before. This is the chronicle of that quest, and the little detours and road blocks along the way. -EragonxHuman!Saphira-
1. Chapter 1

Um, so what is this again? xD

I'm currently reading _Eragon_, which is fantastic. It's actually the book I chose for a book report in English. I'd been meaning to read the book for a while and thought now would be a good time to read it. :D

This is just a random idea I came up with as I progressed through the book. I'd say it's very AU. The rating will most likely change to M as the story continues. Sorry if it isn't very good. I wrote this very late at night. :P

* * *

The trees are nothing but a blur far below, a blanket of green stretching for leagues in every direction. Eragon glances down at them as Saphira soars through the sky, flapping once, twice, three times before gliding smoothly again. They're going at a leisurely pace, but then the blue dragon catches movement between a cluster of trees, and she folds her wings against her body to head into a dive. Eragon clutches on tightly as the onrush of air blows his hair back and forces him to squint. There's a deer bounding over roots growing out of the ground, and Saphira snatches it up in her large jaws in an instant before arcing back up. Eragon chuckles and shakes his head.

_All right. You've found your game. Let's make camp somewhere so I can find mine._

_As you wish, little one._

Saphira lands in a clearing beside a river. The gurgling sound is soothing, and Eragon can faintly hear the call of birds in the higher branches of the trees. He dismounts and takes a look around, nodding his head in approval. He sets a hand gently on Saphira. "Go ahead and fly if you'd like," he says out loud. "I'm going to go hunting, maybe find some firewood as well." Sapphire eyes catch his gaze and the dragon gives a slight nod of her own. As Eragon treks into the trees, he hears flapping and the rustling of trees as Saphira takes off.

He makes sure he stays close enough to the clearing that he can still hear the river. It would be dusk soon, so he would have to be quick. He stops suddenly and stands there, drawing his bow. He catches the sound of a light patter on the ground, crunching leaves and branches, and he knows he's close to a target. Carefully he winds his way around trees, moving closer to the source of the noise. There's a deer by the river.

Slowly he nocks an arrow and takes aim, not wanting to have to take more than one shot. Well, he doubts he'd be able to get in a second shot, since the deer will have scampered off and gotten away. The deer looks up from its taking a drink like it knows Eragon is nearby. The Rider licks his lips and, just as the deer goes back to drinking from the river, he releases the arrow.

His game is wet on one side, the force of the arrow having thrown it forward to fall into the water. It's all right though. He's going to skin it anyway. He ties its legs together then begins to find wood for a fire.

* * *

It's already dusk when Eragon makes his way back to the clearing. He has firewood tucked beneath his arm and a deer in his free hand. _Saphira_, he begins, _I'm heading back now. _There's no reply, but he lets it go. Maybe she's just out of range. She'd be back before long. As he nears the clearing, he tries again. _I'm almost there. _He doesn't get a reply, and now his eyebrows furrow. _Saphira? _Nothing.

He breaks into a run, struggling with everything he's carrying. He doesn't let it dissuade him, however, as he pushes his legs to escape the trees and rush into the clearing. He stops abruptly when he sees a lone figure with long black hair in the middle of the clearing bearing no clothes, clutching their arms around themselves. He lets the objects he has slip from his grasp and drop to the ground as he narrows his eyes, wondering who this person was. How had they ended up here in the middle of the forest?

He cautiously takes a step forward; his muffled footstep is apparently heard, since the person turns their head to look up at him. When he sees those familiar sapphire eyes watching him, but this time wide with fear and uncertainty rather than vigilance and bravery, his own eyes widen. "Saphira!" He runs over to her, at the same time removing his cloak and draping it around her. She's quivering violently even with it on, and Eragon holds her close. He knows that she's not shaking from the cold. She's shaking because she's frightened.

So terribly frightened.

* * *

The chapters will stay around this length, just so it doesn't get too boring and I can keep my writing drive up. :P Thanks for reading; reviews appreciated! :D


	2. Chapter 2

Well, I'm supposed to be asleep, but I've had the first part to this written for over a week and sitting in my binder. I thought I'd try to finish it really quickly. This didn't even take me an hour to finish, which is really unusual. I only took such a short time because I'm ultra tired and homework took longer than it usually does. Damn small French text on my homework. o_e

Anyway, there may be typos in here (which I'll go back and correct when I have time), and it may not make much sense (but I hope it does). Please enjoy, nonetheless. :D

It's a bit of a slow moving chapter, but it's the bridge between the beginning and getting down to business.

* * *

Eragon sits back on his haunches as the fire sparks to life, setting to work on skinning the deer. Occasionally he glances up, eyeing what was once a dragon – _his _dragon – from over the yellow flames.

Saphira doesn't look up, even though he's sure that she can feel him watching her. Her arms are wrapped around her legs, which she's drawn up to her chest as if to conceal her body from the world. She's clothed now, albeit in Eragon's extra clothes that are too big and make her small frame look even smaller. She wasn't able to put the clothes on earlier, being still unfamiliar with the mechanics of the human body, and he'd had to assist her. He'd tried hard to avert his eyes as he did so, but he couldn't help her if he did. She hadn't been flustered in the least bit in exposing herself to him, but she _was_ once a dragon after all. She'd even laughed at him when he stuttered out a reply as to why he was attempting not to look at her.

_Eragon._

The Rider's head snaps up at the sound of his name to look over at Saphira.

_You're turning red,_ she continues. _Are you all right?  
_  
It's then that Eragon realizes that his cheeks had begun to burn when remembering the events from earlier. He feels his face heat up even more (and not from the fire) as he hastily looks down, not looking up this time from the deer. _I'm fine._

Saphira chuckles a bit. It's not the odd coughing growl she possessed as a dragon, but rather a pretty, human laugh. _If you say so._

Eragon tilts his head subtly and decides he likes the way her laugh sounds.

* * *

"You're going to have to learn how to walk, don't you know?" Eragon voices as he bites into the venison hungrily. He eyes Saphira, who is awkwardly grasping her piece of venison in her hand. Instead of tearing out strips, she attempts to take bites out of the entire hunk of meat as if she still had the monstrous jaws and deadly teeth she did before. Eragon squashes down a laugh and tells her, "You can tear it. It makes things easier."

Saphira shoots him an annoyed look that's not much different than the ones she gave him as a dragon. This time he can't keep his laugh down. Ignoring him, she asks, _Will it be a far walk to the next town?_

Eragon looks up in thought as he swallows. _It shouldn't be more than a few days' walk. Oh, and… _"You're going to have to learn to speak as well."

Saphira's face scrunches up. _I feel like a child having to learn such simple things. _

"But you'll learn much faster." _Don't worry._

Saphira slowly begins to tear strips from her piece of meat. Eragon focuses on her sapphire orbs, and he can see the smallest bit of reminiscence behind them. He feels bad for her – truly, he does. He knows she misses the feel of the wind on her face as she soars through the air without anything to hold her back, the feel of being feared. But it's all gone now, gone with her fire, gone with her wings…

_Gone with my majesty._

Eragon blinks and remembers that she can tell what he's thinking. He shakes his head and looks at her seriously. "Now that's not true, and we both know that."

He holds Saphira's gaze.

She's the first one to look away.

* * *

Saphira falls asleep first. She falls asleep before Eragon can set out his bedroll. He had planned on offering it to her, but she had dozed off too quickly. He lays it out anyway, and he goes to pick her up and gently set her on it. She's surprisingly light, and he's extra careful when putting her down. He immediately lets himself lay back next to her, the fatigue catching up to him.

But sleep doesn't come very easily. The crackling of the fire is the only thing he can hear aside from the low hum of crickets. He stares up at the stars, counting them, only to lose count and start over until that fails to entertain him any longer. Then he turns onto his side and sees Saphira breathing deeply, sleep being a friend to her.

He doesn't remember anything after that, having finally fallen asleep.

* * *

Reviews loved. :D


	3. Chapter 3

Just wrote two essays for one class within the same night. Feelin' like such a BAMF, bro. xD

* * *

The fire is smoldering when Eragon awakes the next morning. He rubs his eyes tiredly and yawns as he stretches and sits up. He glances at the rising smoke before turning and seeing Saphira already sitting up, watching him with her head tilted slightly to the side.

"You're awake," he states.

_Indeed, _Saphira replies with a small nod.

"For how long?"

She shrugs. _I don't recall. I couldn't fall asleep again, so I stayed up to watch you._

Eragon sighs silently as he stands up and begins to gather their belongings. Saphira is no longer the dragon she was not even twenty-four hours ago. Hearing her say that she stayed up to watch him made him instantly saddened, and he hadn't even been awake for five minutes. She still sounded like the dragon that watched out for her Rider and would do anything to protect him. However, she wasn't capable of such things anymore.

_Not for much longer_, Eragon ponders. _We'll fix this soon._

_I hope._

Eragon subtly looks over at Saphira, who gives him a fleeting look before stretching out her legs before her and studying them. He finishes packing and sets their stuff down before walking up to her. He holds out a hand to her, and she stares at it for a moment like she's never seen a hand before.

"Come on," he says. "You need to learn how to walk."

Saphira blinks. _This isn't going to turn out well._

"It's still worth a shot."

She takes hold of his hand, and he pulls her up with ease. As soon as she's on her feet, she falls forward, and he catches her around the waist in order to steady her. Her arm goes around his neck and he keeps his own comfortably around her waist, taking slow steps so that she can get one foot in front of the other. Her movements are awkward, for the most part, and she shakes slightly as she moves her weight from leg to leg, gradually moving forward. They reach the edge of their campsite, and Eragon helps her turn around.

"I think you're ready to try walking on your own," he tells her.

Saphira frowns. _Getting this far with your assistance was difficult enough._

"Just give it a try." Eragon slips his hand away from her waist, and Saphira slides her arm off his shoulders. She spends a few seconds balancing herself, and Eragon surveys her as she takes one wobbly step after the other. He can't help but notice how much Saphira resembles a fawn, struggling to walk, much less stay upright. She makes it five steps before she tumbles to the ground.

He rushes over quickly to check up on her. _You made progress, _he tries to praise her, but then a cackle he can't hold back passes his lips, and Saphira shoots him a deadly glare.

_Walking on these sticks you humans call legs is difficult, _she bites out.

_But you tried, right? You're getting there._

* * *

By the time the pair are beginning their trek to the next town, Saphira can walk at a moderate pace without support. It's a considerably slow pace by Eragon's standard, and at the rate they're going, the journey would take an extra day – maybe even two. He decides to make up for it by travelling a few extra leagues each day and making camp just as the sun sets completely.

A few nights later, Saphira plops down by the fire. The deer that Eragon had caught is already on the fire, and the scent spreads throughout their small camp. Her legs are sore. They'd been sore, but she refused to complain since then it would take them longer to reach their destination. Eragon undoubtedly noticed her pain, since one day he had offered to carry her for a short distance in order to give her legs a break. She found it a bit humiliating, but if he was offering the help, she wasn't refusing.

"Are you doing all right?"

Saphira looks up as Eragon takes a seat next to her. He takes a deep breath as he gazes up at the night sky. She stared at him, not looking anywhere else. _You don't find this… taxing? _she asks.

Eragon turns to her. _Find what taxing?_

_Teaching me… teaching me to be a human._

He laughs. _It sounds funny when you put it that way. No, I don't find this taxing at all. _

Saphira smiles and takes that as all the answer she needs. She lies back on the ground to fix her own blue eyes upon the brilliant stars and bright moon. Eragon lies back with her. The crackling of the fire is all there is for a few minutes before the Dragon Rider thinks he hears a tuneless resonance. He glimpses at Saphira.

"You're humming…" It's more of a realization than a question.

Saphira turns to look at him and smiles, not stopping her humming. Eragon smiles back. He doesn't want her to anyway.


	4. Chapter 4

Look at me, updating just over a week from the last chapter! I'm proud of myself. xD

I wrote some of this at school, then finished it up during the weekend. So uh, hope you enjoy!

* * *

Eragon can see the town coming into view. He sighs audibly, satisfied with the time he and Saphira had made. He looks over at said girl now, watching her for a moment. Before he can stop himself, he asks:

"What happened?"

The question doesn't need an explanation, the Rider knows that. The scowl that mars Saphira's face at his inquiry lets him know that even more. She breathes hard through her nose as her eyebrows furrow, and he waits patiently. He doesn't mind.

He had put the question off for as long as he did for fear of what Saphira might do. But as he thinks about it, there isn't much she _can _do; her ability to spew fire from her mouth and swipe down trees with her talons are now non-existent. So… why _did _he wait?

_Emotions, _Eragon concludes. _Saphira hasn't been human long enough for me to figure out how she might react. _He glances at her and cringes at the anger swirling in her sapphire orbs. _No, this… doesn't look very good._

She's looking straight ahead as, with a huff, she says, _I don't know._

Eragon has to do a double take. "You don't know?" His own eyebrows furrow.

She glowers at him, and he can catch the subtle movement of her jaw tensing from gritting her teeth. _No, Eragon, I haven't the slightest idea how this occurred. One moment I was in the sky, the next I was on the ground, my wings having failed._

"You were hit then…?" Eragon says this more to himself as he tries to make sense of it all. However, Saphira's explanation is vague. He can't say he blames her though. Whatever hit her must've been quick. "But by what?"

_That's what I wish to know as well._

"Perhaps there will be books in town we can purchase to aid us in our search."

_And if there isn't?_

"Well, we wait it out… travel from town to town, city to city, until we find the book we need."

_How long will that take us? _Saphira sighs and shakes her head. _Weeks, surely, but months?_

"These things take time, Saphira," Eragon replies, "and since we don't know what you were attacked by, it sets us back even more."

_I can't stay like this, Eragon! I was not made to be a human, and I will not _stay _a human!_

"I understand that," he says firmly. "I don't want you to stay a human, either. But we can't speed this process up."

_Doesn't the thought of you being weaker without my support, without the altitude that I could achieve just one week previous, give you the urge to find a solution quicker?_

"I can fight well on foot, and I have my magic." Eragon's feeling impatient now.

Saphira's blue irises glimpse at him, eerily calm. _What will you do, Eragon, if the time comes when you need my own magic to assist yours, and I haven't the ability to give it to you? _She turns back to watching the trail in front of her. _You are strong, I know, but in the same sense, you are now weak._

The Rider frowns and his impatience dissipates like a vapor. Yes, there had been malice laced in her voice not even a few minutes ago, but now it's composed, quiet – almost emotionless. His heart wrenches painfully in the confines of his chest because he knows that she's worrying for him, and that she's worrying for him greatly. Truth be told, he doesn't feel like the Dragon Rider he is anymore. Even taking a quick look at the gedwёy ignasia upon his palm does nothing to amend it.

He looks up at Saphira and gives her a small smile. "We'll fix this. I promise."

She nods and tries to return his smile. Eragon feels like his heart is being yanked right out of his chest because she doesn't look very convinced. Sadly, he isn't very convinced either.

* * *

That night, by the time they're settled into the inn they had chosen to stay at, Eragon leaves their shared room to sit outside the back of the inn, leaning against a rock and looking up once more at the numerous stars in the sky. Saphira follows after him a few minutes later, ignoring the glances from people at seeing her attire. She and Eragon had decided to put away the errands for tomorrow, too exhausted to do them when they arrived.

_There you are, _she says as she sits next to him.

Eragon smiles a bit, but stays looking at the stars. It's silent between them as they both do so, but in a few minutes, the stress of the situation catches up to the Rider, and he turns to Saphira, setting his head on her shoulder. She leans her head against his and closes her eyes.

Up above, the stars twinkle in moonlight and mystery.

* * *

Reviews are love. :D


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